MutualFundWire.com: Western Asset Rebrands and Re-ups

MutualFundWire.com

The insiders' edge for 40 Act industry executives!
an InvestmentWires' Publication

Friday, September 7, 2012

Western Asset Rebrands and Re-ups

Western Asset Management [profile] has announced management changes at two dozen funds as part of a firm-wide rebrand, a move that Morningstar notes in its Fund Times column. All the funds' managers will remain in place, but the moves will be designed to reflect the team-based management approach that Western Asset is now touting.

But, re-brand or no, Western is still betting heavily on the same "toxic waste," or unsecured mortgage-backed securities, that accounted for the firm's huge losses during the financial crisis, Reuters reports.

It's a strategy that's been working lately. Western Asset's Core Plus Bond Fund is back up to $9.7 billion in AUM, after losing $9 billion to outflows from its peak of over $14 billion, and it's returned 6.71 percent so far this year.

So please forgive Western Asset management for a bit of braggadocio, after pulling the firm back from the brink using the same strategy that got them there. Reuters reporter Sam Forgione quoted several Western Asset executives thumbing their noses, modestly, at all the doubters. For example, CIO Stephen Walsh said that the market's upturn "has proven that we actually had good assets for the most part," even through the dark days of 2008.

And, contra Bill Gross, Walsh said that high-yield bonds are still the "poster child" of the firm's strategy, and he calls U.S. Treasuries a mere "insurance policy." And he rebuts the bond king's doom-and-gloom pronouncements: "I actually think stocks are going to be hard-pressed to try to beat some of the returns that are available in high-yield bonds," he said.

For a full list of the Western Asset management changes, see the Morningstar column.

Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=41194

Copyright 2012, InvestmentWires, Inc.
All Rights Reserved